The Cost-Benefits and Risks of Using Raffia Made of Biodegradable Polymers: The Case of Pepper and Tomato Production in Greenhouses

Josefa López-Marín,Mari Carmen Piñero,Francisco M Del Amor,Jose M Brotons-Martínez,Amparo Gálvez

doi:10.3390/horticulturae8020133

Josefa López-Marín, Mari Carmen Piñero + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8020133

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Abstract

The use of plastics in agriculture has increased food production and reduced irrigation, pesticides, and pests. However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “disastrous” use has occurred, as agricultural soils are being contaminated and have begun to threaten food security, peoples’ health, and the environment. One of the most challenging plastic wastes that must be removed from plants, and instead recycled, is the raffia used to tutor crops. This work studied the economic risk of introducing raffia made from a biodegradable polymer in greenhouse pepper and tomato crops. An expert survey was carried out to analyze the evolution of breaks throughout the season of four biodegradable raffias: cellulose, cellulose + kraft paper, compostable biopolymer, and jute-rayon, comparing them with a polypropylene control for two years (2019–2020) in pepper and tomato crops. Fuzzy logic-ordered weighted averages (OWA) were used to treat and aggregate this information. Income, costs, and the risk of biodegradable raffia breakage were studied. The results show that the material that performed the best was the biopolymer in the two crops studied, as it presented a much lower risk of breakage. The breaks in tomatoes were higher than those produced in pepper for each material. For the biopolymer, the internal rates of return (3.49% in tomatoes and 8.14% in peppers) and the recovery period (18.50 and 13.45 years for tomato and pepper crops, respectively) were very similar to those of polypropylene.

Highlights

Almost a million tons of polymeric materials are generated, per year, by intensive horticulture, which is causing a large problem [1]
The risk of temporary and permanent price declines has been analyzed in other studies [12], and a fuzzy model has been developed for its evalu‐ ation [23]
Current horticultural production systems use many synthetic materials, such as pol‐ yethylene. An example of this is raffia, whose removal is extremely difficult, which is why the present study analyzed the economic implications of its replacement with biodegrada‐ ble polymers

Summary

Introduction

Almost a million tons of polymeric materials are generated, per year, by intensive horticulture, which is causing a large problem [1]. The horticultural production system uses a large number of synthetic materials, such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), which are utilized for tunnels, greenhouses, nets for crop protection and shading, soil mulching, solarization films, films for silage, seedling pots, and ropes and clips to hold plants, among others. This generates large amounts of non‐biodegradable plastic waste [2], which is difficult for farmers to manage. This cultivation technique, among others, is used in important crops, such as tomato and pepper [4,5]

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